Mac or PC?

The easiest way to start a fight between two geeks is to ask them just ONE question-

Mac or PC?

Let’s start off with some basic knowledge about the age-old battle-

The Macintosh was created  by Steve Jobs & Steve Wozniak in 1984. The advertisement for the first Macintosh was aired during the third quarter of Super Bowl XVIII. It is considered a ‘watershed event’ for many people around the world(blah). The advertisement portrayed IBM as ‘Big Brother’ (who controls the computing world) and Apple as the only hope to give IBM a run for their money.

The first PC was created by IBM in 1981(a common misconception is that it was created by Bill Gates). The IBM-PC was so popular that other companies(Award, Phoenix) started creating IBM PC compatibles(IBM clones). The IBM clones duplicated all the features of the original IBM-PC except the BIOS(Binary Input Output System). By doing this, companies like Dell, HP and Compaq succeeded because their product worked exactly like the original IBM-PC.
So, where does Bill Gates come into all of this?
When Bill Gates was completing his undergraduate at Harvard in 1973, he wrote a version of the then-popular programming language BASIC for MITS'(Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry System) Altair microcomputer. Accompanying him was Paul Allen. In 1975, they set up Microsoft to develop software for the newly emerging personal computer market. Bill Gates convinced IBM into letting Microsoft retain the rights to MS-DOS. By doing this, Microsoft made a fortune from the licensing of the OS. After MS-DOS, Gates & Allen created a popular OS called Windows. Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world’s PC market, overtaking Apple’s Mac OS, which had been introduced in 1984.

Apple has always been known to steal things(like the GUI from Xerox). And, it does the same for customers. Apple goes into an all-out battle on its website about how customers should switch from a PC to a Macintosh. Same for the Windows website(the Windows website started this after seeing Apple steal customers).
Let’s get down to the nitty-grittys of both-

• Cost– Most consumers out there would want a bang for their buck. The price of a computer is one of the major factors which influences the customer. A PC will give you the performance of a Lamborghini Aventador for the price of a second hand Maruti 800.
• Software– When a PC user converts to a Mac, he/she sacrifices the myriad applications which are available for the PC. Yes, you can have the same software for the Mac. But, it’s often priced much more than the PC counterparts. Also, when you switch to a Mac, you can wave goodbye to all your games. When the games reach the Mac, they’re usually outdated. And just btw, pirated stuff doesn’t work on a Mac. So, you can stop all those trips to Bandra Station. 😀
• User-friendliness-Mac users will jump at this category. The Macintosh comes pre-installed with OS X. In this category, the Mac wins hands-down. No other OS can match up to OS X’s user-friendliness. OS X just needs a little getting used to before you can unleash its true potential.
• Design– Apple has always churned out some excellent designs for all their products. The sleekness of an iMac/MacBook/MacBook Pro/MacBook Air/iPod/iPad 2 is what draws most consumers to the product. But(there’s always a ‘but’ when you talk about Apple), Apple doesn’t give you freedom of choice. When you buy an Apple product, you’re pretty much stuck with what Apple chose to provide to you. With a PC, you can have extremely diverse designs. You can make your PC look as funky as you want.
  

  Try doing this to a Mac

• Hardware Upgrades– This is the worst part about owning a Mac. Yes, a Mac comes pre-installed with absolutely FANTABULOUS hardware but, it is non-upgradable to newer hardware. So, you’re stuck with what you buy. With a PC, you can just go & buy a few parts from Lamington Road at a dirt-cheap price & assemble your own PC at home, which can run MUCH better than a Mac. Sure, it won’t look as stunning as that iMac in Maple but, the performance is all that matters, isn’t it? 🙂
• Multimedia software– Though the PC has some great multimedia software, it can’t match up to the Mac’s iPhoto, iMovie & GarageBand. They’re great for organizing your pictures, editing movies & making music. The same finesse in the end product is lacking when you use a PC’s multimedia software. The multimedia software on a Mac is of immense help to photographers & film-makers all around the world. 
• PhotoBooth– This is by far, the stupidest reason to buy a Mac/iPad 2(it also has PhotoBooth). When I asked one of my friends why he wanted to buy the iPad 2 instead of a Motorola Xoom, one of his many stupid reasons was-” & dude!!!it has PhotoBooth!That’s so cool!”.
  So, you just buy a Mac to put up cool pictures of yourself posing on PhotoBooth & uploading them onto Facebook to get loads of likes and comments?
  How dumb are you? 😐
  There are innumerable softwares on the World Wide Web which replicate the PhotoBooth. But, if you’re just self-obsessed & want to waste lots of $$$ on a Mac, go right ahead. 🙂 
  

  Stupidness Personified

• MagSafe(not so safe)- This is a feature all MacBook Pro/MacBook/MacBook Air users will be familiar with. MagSafe is a technology ‘invented’ by Apple “which breaks cleanly away from the notebook if you trip over the power cord.” Basically, it’s just magnetically connected to your laptop. The sharp angles and minimal strain relief of the design are extremely fragile & people have complained of frayed MagSafe adapters after 6-7 months of usage. Users have also reported melting of the wire. Laptops running on Windows, on the other hand are doing it old-school. Round-pin connectors FTW! 😀
  

  Not so safe anymore, is it?

• Security– All the Mac users i know keep boasting about the fact that the Mac doesn’t get a virus. This is just a myth. Macs do get viruses. A Mac needs anti-virus software as much as a PC does. And, the only reason there are more PC viruses is coz of the fact that PCs dominate over 95% of the computer market. *cough cough*
• System Crashes– The only reason why PCs crash is poorly-coded programs. The OS itself is rock-solid. It’s the programs which screw it up. If a Mac crashes, you have only one option(in 95% of the cases)- re-install the full OS.

The Mac versus PC war has been going on since decades & a lot of parodies have come up. Some of them are bloody hilarious! Some of them can be found here, here and here.

Even though both have their own pros & cons, it is totally up to the consumer to choose. If a customer is looking for a good-looking product which has an easy-to-use interface, he/she will definitely choose a Mac. And if a customer is looking for a proper computing experience, he/she would obviously want to buy a PC(unless an Apple FanBoy comes along to entice the customer).

In my opinion, if you are a person who can tinker around with his computer & know how to fix it, you should get a PC. You can’t afford to tinker around with a Mac coz you’ll be just too afraid of damaging a product for which you paid a lot of your hard-earned cash. PCs are much easier to maintain if you just know what to do. 😎